RWBY - Flame of Atonement
by SeerKing
Summary: In the aftermath of Torchwick's attempt on Ruby's life, Yang is haunted by nightmares, Blake seeks venegence, Weiss in troubled by the feelings she has been having for her young leader and Ruby is still recovering from the deadly poison she recieved. What changes will this bring and what role will the mysterious King's Rook have in them? Second book of the first trilogy.
1. Cooling Embers

**Author's Note: OK, so I meant to post this way back in August, but my computer issues relegated it to the low priority of whenever I could find it again, which I have obviously done. This does not mean that I will be altering my schedule in any way, shape or form. I will be taking Decemberand the first half of January off from writing to do some much needed corrections in ALL of my stories, as well as relaxing and casually writing the rest of this story. Until then,enjoy the first chapter.**

"Weiss!" - Regular Speech

' _Dolt!_ ' - Thoughts

-{ _Sis!_ }- - Radio/Scroll communication

 **Chapter 1 - Cooling Embers**

 _ **Yang ran.**_

 _ **She didn't know where she was or why she was here. All that she could see was the endless darkness that surrounded her and a trail of floating red rose petals that beckoned her onwards. Something about it terrified her and that was why she was charging down the path in desperation.**_

 _ **"Yang!" a familiar voice called, echoing around her, making her halt in her tracks.**_

 _ **"Ruby?!" the blond yelled, "Ruby, where are you?!"**_

 _ **"Yang, help me!" the voice of her sister screamed in terror.**_

 _ **Violet eyes turned crimson and Yang Xiao Long deployed her shotgun-gauntlets, Ember Celica, before charging down the red path before her. Her sister was in danger and she was not going to fail her.**_

 _ **After an eternity of running, the trail of petals eventually led to a large clearing in the darkness, covered in red...blood red. Lying in the centre was Ruby Rose, Yang's beloved little sister. Her silver eyes stared up into the sky sightlessly as blood seeped from the dagger embedded into her heart.**_

 _ **"R...RUBY!" Yang shrieked in denial. She collapsed onto her knees, tears falling from her eyes as blood covered her knees. Then, from the darkness behind her sister's dead body, a man wearing a white tuxedo and wielding a cane stepped out, a sneer plastered over his face.**_

 _ **"Looks like it's third time lucky." Roman Torchwick laughed sadistically, "So long, Red!"**_

 _ **The blonde brawler screamed her rage as flames erupted around her. She leapt forwards, right fist cocked back and ready to strike the laughing bastard who had murdered her sister, when he abruptly vanished.**_

 _ **Cursing violently as she landed, Yang turned back to see Ruby's body start to sink into the blood beneath her.**_

 _ **"NO!" with a cry, Yang leapt towards her sister's body, only to land atop where it had been only moments ago. Pounding the bloody ground in impotent, frustrated rage, Yang Xiao Long screamed her rage and grief to the heavens as the darkness swallowed her entirely.**_

 _Team RWBY Dorms_

With a shriek, Yang leapt from her bed and landed in a heap on the floor.

"Yang?!"

Ruby, a light sleeper in the week following her poisoning and almost assassination, had woken up almost immediately. She used her Semblance to appear next to her panting sister and was taken aback by the tears that were poring down her older sister's face.

Recognising the need to comfort the distraught girl, Ruby hugged her sister as she started to sob.

"Not again." Blake moaned as she peered down at the sisters with concern in her amber eyes, "This makes a week and a half straight."

"Nightmares are common in these cases, Blake." Weiss told her as the Schnee Heiress sat up and swung her pale legs around to rest her feet on the floor, "Honestly, I don't blame her. What that scum Torchwick did to Ruby last week was beyond the pale."

The cat Faunus nodded with a scowl on her face. Roman Torchwick was something of a sore point for her, as he hated Faunus with a passion, yet was in charge of at least some of her former group, the White Fang. His attempt to murder her friend had only made Blake all the more determined to capture the foul man.

"What was the dream about this time, Yang?" Ruby asked softly, "Me dying again? Urgh...I wish I could fight dreams! I'm here and alive, Yangie."

Yang gave a wet chuckle at hearing Ruby's childhood name for her. "I know, sis. Sorry for waking you three up like this."

"Brute." Weiss sniffed, "As if Blake or I would take umbridge with you over this. But I think you should talk to a councilor at some point. The nightmares seem to be getting more extreme."

"Do I have to?" Yang asked with a wince, "I'm not fond of shrinks."

"Yang, watching you like this is distressing for all of us." Blake said gently, "Having to watch you tear yourself apart night after night is almost as painful to watch as it was to watch Ruby endure that antidote last week."

Yang winced. "Yikes. Worse than I thought. Sorry Blakey."

"I can have the best 'shrink' in Vale made available at any time for you." Weiss stated, "Female, of course. Just let me know when you want to start and I'll clear it with Ozpin."

"Thanks Princess." Yang nodded, "Rubes, could you...?"

"Of course." Ruby smiled at her older sister. Yang climbed back into bed and Ruby sang ' _You are my Sunshine_ ' to her sister, making the blond brawler drop off just as fast as she had the first time Weiss and Blake had seen the phenomenon.

"I still can't believe how quickly she falls asleep." Weiss muttered to Blake quietly, "Is Ruby part Siren or something?"

The cat Faunus shook her head. "I think it's because it's part of some of the best memories she has." she disagreed.

The white-haired girl looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.

Once Yang was snoring lightly, Ruby quietly stepped down from ad-hoc bunk bed and sighed.

"Is it bad that I'm happy that she cares about me enough to have nightmares?" the red-cloaked huntress-in-training asked in a subdued whisper.

"It is, but I understand where you're coming from." Blake said quietly. Ruby had an inferiority complex, constantly undervaluing herself and doubtful of her place in the affections of others, even when they were someone like Yang, who practically had a neon sign saying 'I LOVE RUBY ROSE' present on her at all times.

"Off to bed now, Ruby." Weiss said firmly, "We still have classes tomorrow."

Ruby hugged both of her awake teammates before climbing back into her bed and burrowing into the blankets like a cat. She was fast asleep a couple of minutes after that.

"We have the most unusual choice in partners." the white-haired Schnee Heiress whispered to Blake.

"Yup. Would you change it?" the Faunus asked just as quietly.

A small smile crossed Weiss' face as she turned back to her own bed.

"Not on your life."

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 **Next Chapter: Flickering Sparks**

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	2. Flickering Sparks

**So then, here we are at Christmas Eve. This is kinda my version of a present for all of you who like my RWBY stories. See you next year.**

"Weiss!" - Regular Speech

' _Dolt!_ ' - Thoughts

-{ _Sis!_ }- Radio/Scroll communications.

 **Chapter 2: Flickering Sparks**

 _The Next Day_

 _Headmaster's Office, Beacon Academy_

Ozpin drank his coffee and gazed out at the view that his office, at the top of Beacon's Tower, offered him. It was moments of peace like this that constantly reminded him of why he had become the Headmaster of Beacon in the first place; to ensure that the peace they had earned after the Great War eighty years ago did not shatter.

Alas, these moments never seemed to last as a beeping noise on his desk alerted him to the fact that Glynda and the rest of Beacon's Professors were ready for the morning meeting.

With a sigh, Ozpin placed his cup onto the desk and pressed a button that told Glynda to come in. The doors at the end of the room opened and Glynda Goodwitch led the other professors in. Tall, stern, unflinching, loyal and utterly professional in all things, she was the ideal person to act as his deputy.

Behind her, Bartholomew Oobleck was taking frequent sips of coffee as he rapidly talked to Peter Port, who was talking just as enthusiastically, if not as rapidly, as his peer. Ozpin knew most students regarded Oobleck and Port as something of a joke, but they were, appearances and eccentricities to one side, highly skilled Hunters that he trusted with his life.

Taking up the rear was Professor Peach, her face drawn as she had been staying up late for the last week thanks to the fallout of the attempted poisoning of Ruby Rose. The number for forms needed to relegate evidence under an airtight seal thanks to the Black Eleven Protocols was excessive, to say the least. Especially if it was to do with the Individual Eleven.

The other professors trailed in behind them and Ozpin settled in for the meeting, which was the usual start-of-week nonsense about problem students. Most prominent among these were Team CRDL, the first year team. Cardin Winchester, the leader, was especially vicious against any Faunus students.

He dearly wished to do something about the thuggish boy, but knew that some people couldn't change. Cardin was one of those people. What was little known by the general public was that people who were full of such petty hatred, spite and malice such as Mr Winchester rarely made it through a year post-graduation before suffering mishaps in the field, victims of their own arrogance and stupidity.

"…and to conclude, the representatives of Shade, Atlas and Haven Academies will be arriving here within the next week." Glynda ended the meeting with this announcement, "Ensure that all students are aware to represent Beacon with integrity and honour for the duration of their visit. Emphasis the is Team CRDL especially, as foreign Faunus might not care about who Cardin's father is long enough to pull their punches."

The Winchester family was a producer of, frankly, substandard weaponry (by the standards of the Hunter Corps) used by civilian game hunters and criminals, which earned him quite the profit, feeding the arrogant man's sense of self-worth, as well as his son's.

"Glynda, Bartholomew, Peter, Peach." Ozpin said as the meeting broke up, "Could you remain behind? There are some additional issues to discuss between us."

Once the other teachers had departed and the doors closed, Ozpin came right to the point. "How has Team RWBY been in the last week?"

"Miss Schnee and Miss Belladonna have been acting as bodyguards for Miss Rose." Glynda replied, "They rarely let her out of their sight, even during class. Miss Schnee especially seems…ardent…in her desire to protect Miss Rose. She frequently glares at Mr Winchester to make him back away from Miss Rose."

"I've seen the same in my class." Port agreed.

"Indeed." Oobleck nodded.

"What of Miss Xiao Long? One would have thought she would be the most ardent to be at her sister's defence." Ozpin asked curiously.

"She does…when she is awake." Glynda sighed, "Apparently, she's suffering from night terrors; she keeps seeing Miss Rose…dying in all sorts of unpleasant ways. She's been listless and frequently sleeps during non-combat classes. Miss Schnee has put forward a request to have a councillor assigned to her so she can have this problem mitigated."

"So she realises that this isn't going to go away anytime soon." Ozpin nodded. Trauma such as what Yang Xiao Long had suffered wouldn't fade away without the one thing that healed all things, time. She had healed when the initial incident had happened years ago, and she would heal in time in this instance as well.

"I must say, I am glad that Miss Schnee has become such a team player." Port boomed bombastically, "I had a talk with her at the start of term, when she was… _less_ than enthusiastic about your choice in leader for Team RWBY. She seems to have come around nicely."

"Indeed." Bartholomew said with a rapid nod, "It is unfortunate that it took this whole poisoning incident to draw it out of her. Bad business that."

"The way Miss Schnee was raised has something to do with it." Ozpin sighed before refilling his cup with fresh coffee, "Her father, Schwarz, is a tin god in his own household, with her mother, Whitney, mostly acting as a trophy wife. Winter was away in the military most of her teenaged years and her brother Whitley is…unscrupulous, to say the least. She was alone most of her life, aside from mingling with the Atlesian high-society, which doubtless gave her poor impressions about humans in general. You know how cutthroat nobles can be."

"She couldn't risk showing herself to be human because it has led to her getting hurt in the past." Port nodded.

"Let us not forget about the fact she has apparently memorised the names and signs of all of the deadliest poisons on Remnant." Glynda reminded her colleagues, "She's been under threat from her father's business rivals long before the White Fang turned violent, which undoubtedly made things worse."

"Speaking of, what about her relationship with ex-Agent Shadowcat?" Oobleck asked, using Blake's old codename among the Hunter Corps when she was active with the Faunus Rights group.

"There was tension between them, but the incident at the docks defused most of it." Ozpin replied and looked slightly forlorn, "I just wish I could convince Blake to stop wearing that bow of hers."

Glynda snorted. "As long as people like Cardin Winchester are around, she'll never take it off at Beacon, Ozpin. I've seen the way she looks at him and his team; fear and a great deal of smouldering anger dwell within her eyes for bigots. She's been hurt badly by humans in the past; I'm shocked that she can stand to be around us."

He hated it when his deputy was right about something like this.

"What about Miss Rose? She has been working hard in my classes." Port asked, unsubtly changing the subject.

"And in mine." Oobleck said.

"She's still barred from any combat activities, even sparring, for the next week." Glynda replied, "From what I've been able to tell, she's been spending them in the Forge or her Dorm room."

"She is making thank-you gifts for those who helped to save her life; namely her teammates and JNPR." The headmaster nodded sagely, "Miss Rose is fond of weaponry and other apparel, so she will no doubt be building devices to make their careers as Hunters easier. I gave her access to some items of information that she required to build them, ad a free run at the materials by way of an apology for failing in my charge to protect her."

"Speaking of Miss Rose, has there been any sign of Roman Torchwick?" Peach spoke up for the first time, "I'd _dearly_ like to rake him over the coals for what he did to her."

"As would we all, Peach." Ozpin assured her, "Sadly he seems to have decided to lay low after his two failed attempts on Miss Rose's life. There have been no signs of him since before last week."

"I must say that it is unlike you to allow this man to evade capture as long as he has, Ozpin." Port said with a concerned look on his face.

"Sadly, that is because the Vytal Festival is almost upon us, Peter." Ozpin said with a shudder, "So much fuss and feathers, regardless of the fact it is in a good cause. Unfortunately, that means that James will be here…and a trusted source of mine in Atlas has informed me that he's bringing most of the Atlesian Air Fleet with him."

"King's Rook?" Glynda asked.

Ozpin nodded. "She has also informed me that the White Fang sent an assassin after her the other day…the one known as the Black Fang."

The faces of the other people in the room stiffened at that. The Black Fang was the most infamous assassin in the White Fang, the one who had kidnapped and murdered several members of the Schnee Dust Company's Board of Directors from inside their fortress-like homes surrounded by Atlesian Knights and SDC Security Troops. No one knew who he or she was.

"The Black Fang, otherwise known as a panther-Faunus called Gayle Quinn, is now in custody, missing an arm." Ozpin said with a smile, "Apparently she had an intangibility Semblance called Ghostwalker. She couldn't be seen by the naked eye or on camera and she could walk through walls and even phase through attacks below a certain level of Aura-enhancement."

"She evidently wasn't ready to deal with King's Rook." Oobleck smirked.

"Quite." Ozpin agreed, "King's Rook is currently engaged in watching Schwarz Schnee to ensure he doesn't violate the agreement I have with him, so I suspect that the Black Fang's target was actually Schwarz; King's Rook was just to be eliminated so as to remove a potential witness to his kidnap and murder."

"So the arrogant so-and-so actually owes you one, even if he doesn't know it!" Port brayed with laughter, "Ah-ha! That will stick in his craw once he finds out about it."

"Yes, well, sadly it prompted King's Rook to request to be Castled once again." Ozpin said with a frown, "She isn't eager to be near Schwarz after what she believes he did to her."

"I don't blame her." Glynda huffed, "Just talking to the man over the CCT makes me feel the urge to take a shower afterwards."

 _Later_

 _Beacon Academy Forge Area_

For one of the few times in her life, Ruby wasn't wearing her red cloak. Instead, she wore a red leather apron as she beat at the piece of metal on the anvil, shaping it to how she desired.

This was something she understood well. No having to deal with people's overblown egos, no worrying about hurting others, no having to play nice just to be polite. Just her, her Aura and the metal on the forge.

Yang liked to joke that she was a weapons nut, and Ruby agreed with that assessment of herself, but there was more to it than that. The weapons and armour of a Hunter or Huntress could tell you a lot about the wielder. Take Pyrrha Nikos' weapons, Milo and Akouo̱ for example. The first was a javelin/sword/rifle that was immensely complex, more so than even Ruby's sweetheart, Crescent Rose. The fact that the Invincible Girl could flawlessly shift between the three forms told Ruby how adaptable Pyrrha was, as well as how hard she trained in order to master such a complex weapon.

The shield, Akouo̱, was a very good shield, but it also had a razor-sharp edge that allowed its wielder to use it as an offensive weapon thanks to her Semblance, Polarity. It spoke of how she could think outside the box in a fight and how she could fight unpredictably, even for a Huntress.

Ruby had studied the fighting styles of all of her year mates, but especially the members of her own team and JNPR, since they worked so closely and so well together. This helped when she thought about how to thank JNPR and her teammates for helping her so much. Ruby wasn't a domestic person. She was still growing, so she was a bit clumsy outside of combat and just about the only cooking skill she had mastered was baking cookies.

She was _not_ going to give Nora _more_ reason to be hyperactive!

Elsewhere, Ren had a sudden urge to be thankful to Ruby for some reason.

So then, what to do to thank her friends for saving her life and supporting her? She immediately turned to her obsession and decided to make them accessories for their combat styles.

She had finished her gifts for Yang, Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Ren and Nora, and was just putting the final touches to Pyrrha's gift. Normally, she'd insist that a Hunter (or Huntress) should forge their own equipment to better bond with it, but as that would be entirely beside the point for this, she had used her stealth skills to sneak into JNPR's dorm room and acquire several strands of hair from each of them. Her own team had been far easier.

When she had been learning how to make Crescent Rose, she had devoured volume after volume on weapon forging techniques. One of them dealt with dealing with how to link a weapon to someone without the recipient being involved in the forging process. By adding hair, blood or something else belonging to the recipient at the very end of the shaping process and adding her Aura to it, the weapon would be linked to the recipient rather than to her.

Well, it _would_ still be slightly linked to her, but mostly to the intended recipient.

Grabbing the tongs, Ruby lifted the cherry-red metal off of the anvil and thrust it into the stone basin of ice-cold water nearby, causing steam to rise up and the water to bubble. Holding it there until it was fully cool, the brunette eased it out and carefully laid it beside its mate.

She grinned. Not for the hard part; finding a way to give them to her friends.

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 _The Next Day, After Classes_

 _Team RWBY Dorm Room_

"OK Rubles…what's got you so excited?" Yang asked, eying her little sister warily. When Ruby got excited, it was usually to do with weapons, cookies or a new book.

The blond was sitting at her desk, actually doing her homework for once, while Ruby was using her Semblance to flit around the room almost non-stop for the past half an hour.

"Nothing~!" Ruby sang smugly, making the blond brawler's eyebrows twitch.

"Where's the Ice Queen and Blake anyway?" Yang asked instead of trying (and failing) to grab her irksome sister.

"Weiss is helping a teacher prepare a lecture on rare dust and Blake's gone off to the library to change out her books." Ruby replied as she flitted over to stand next to her older sister, "They ought to be back soon."

"Could ya sit down until they do get here? 'Cause you're giving me a headache zooming all over the place like that." The blond girl asked.

"Sorry sis." Ruby apologised as she sat down at her own desk, "I've got to finish an assignment for my leadership class anyway."

The room fell silent as the sisters worked on their assignments in peace, the silence only broken by the sound of pen on paper and the occasional frustrated sound that they made as they came to a part of their assignment that they had trouble with.

So it was something as a shock to Weiss, when she walked in fifteen minutes later, to see the Rose/Xiao Long sisters working on their schoolwork without her nagging them to death about it. Blake, coming up a step behind her, blinked slowly like a cat as she beheld this same sight.

"Weiss!" Ruby yelped as she spotted her partner. She crashed into the whitette and hugged her, making the pale-skinned girl flush adorably as she tried to extricate herself from her enthusiastic partner's embrace.

"Get off me you dolt!" Weiss scolded her, although Blake and Yang could see that she didn't really mean it. The SDC Heiress had mellowed slightly towards them, but had greatly mellowed (by Weiss' standards) towards Ruby ever since she had almost been killed the previous week.

It was, Yang reflected at the White Rose pair squabbled, somewhat bittersweet to see Ruby being able to stand up to someone as intimidating as Weiss, especially considering how the cape-wearing girl had jumped into Yang's arms in fright the second time they had met.

Once Weiss at last convinced Ruby to let her go, the brunette zipped across to JNPR's room and knocked on the door, which was answered by Jaune. Before the blond leader could say anything, his head was dinged by a thrown bowl, dropping him to the ground with a yelp. A mad cackling laugh emerged from behind him that was all too easy to recognise.

"Nora!" Ren complained in the background.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha came up and knelt next to her leader in concern.

"I'm OK…" the blond boy essayed dizzily, "Ow, my head…"

"Umm…did I knock at a bad time?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. Jaune was wearing his fluffy onesie pyjamas, while Pyrrha was wearing her combat armour, which was good for Ruby's intentions.

"No, Nora just covered Jaune in syrup…again." The redhead frowned in displeasure.

"He liked eating it!" Nora called.

"He could have drowned in it, Nora!"

"Umm…doesn't he have clothes other than his PJ's?" Ruby asked, eying the abominable onesie with scant favour. Yes, it looked cute…on a little boy, but Jaune was no little boy.

"As long as Nora stops throwing syrup around…then yes." Pyrrha looked pointedly at the hyperactive orangette, who pouted.

"Oh pooh."

"In that case, can you guys come over to our dorm once Jaune's in proper clothes?" Ruby smiled happily.

"Sure." The older girl raised an eyebrow at the silver-eyed girl, "What's up?"

"You'll see~!" Ruby said as she skipped back to her dorm.

"What's with Ruby? She's…acting a bit like Nora." Jaune said as he staggered to his feet, wincing at the pain on the back of his head.

"Nah. I'm cooler!"

 _Five Minutes Later_

"So we're all here." Yang eyed Ruby carefully, "So spill. What's got you more wound up than normal?"

"Um…" Ruby took in the circle of friends around her and smiled timidly. She hated crowds, but these were her friends. Still, having them surround her was a bit intimidating, "I wanted to, y'know…say thanks again for what you guys did for me last week…saving my life and all that."

"Thanks are not necessary, Ruby." Pyrrha said seriously, "You are our friend and as such we were glad to be of assistance."

That earned her nods around the room.

"Still, I _am_ grateful, so I kinda wanted to show it." Ruby smiled, "Soooooo….I spent my time all this week in the forges making stuff for all of you. Hope you like 'em!"

With that, she zipped over to her backpack and took out some messily wrapped presents and handed them out to their intended recipients. They were colour coded so there was no mistaking who they were intended for. Weiss' was a light blue with a white ribbon, Yang's was yellow, Blake's was black with a white ribbon, Jaune's was brown and dark yellow, Nora's was pink, Ren's was dark green and Pyrrha's was crimson red.

"Ruby, we can't accept gifts!" Jaune protested, then gulped as Ruby unleashed a devastating attack; the Rose Puppy Dog Pout (© Summer and Ruby Rose) that looked devastatingly cute on the girl. He instantly felt guilty, even though he knew she was doing this deliberately.

JNPR had never been hit with this before and even the Invincible Girl felt her resolve not to accept the present shrivel away. WBY looked on in amusement as the other team was OTK'd by their leader's specialty.

"Is it just me or is it satisfying to see people _other_ than us crumble under that look?" Weiss whispered to Blake.

"It isn't just you." Blake whispered back. The two girls had been hit with that pout several times since the start of term and they had still not built up any resistance to it. Yang, by dint of being Ruby's sister, was all but immune to it by ease of long practice.

"So sis, who gets to open their gift first?" Yang asked easily. She had expected this from Ruby's secretive behaviour the last week or so.

"Weiss!" the brunette beamed at her partner, who flushed red before regaining control.

"Very well, I accept." She said and tugged at the ribbon on her gift, finding out that despite its rough appearance, the ribbon had been tied so that a strong enough tug on it would make it unravel. The paper fell open to reveal a fabric and metal bracer. It was white, with Weiss' white emblem emblazoned on the forearm section. It looked as if it had been made by a master craftsman. It wasn't bulky or out of place with her combat outfit; rather it looked elegant.

"Oh…!" Weiss let out a soft voice as she held the bracer in her hand. She had never received a handcrafted present before, at least not one made by the person giving the gift.

"It's made for your right hand." Ruby said with a grin, "Try it on."

Trembling, the Schnee Heiress did so. It fit her hand like a glove. She flexed her fingers before clenching them into a fist. Almost no loss of dexterity. The metal was very lightweight, almost having no impact on how she moved her arm.

"That isn't the best part though. Check this out." Ruby said and pressed a hidden button in the centre of Weiss' palm that made three slots open up in the side and top of the metal forearm section, which then ejected thin Dust chambers.

"I could only put three, very small, chambers in it, but this way you have something to fight with, even if you somehow lose Myrtenaster." Her dolt of a partner was saying, somewhat nervously. "So do you like it?"

"Like it?" Weiss said quietly as she hit her palm again and watched as the Dust chambers closed. She examined the knuckle area of the glove and found that it had the emitter located there. "Ruby, this is good enough to be a handfasting gift in Atlesian high society. I _love_ it. Thank you."

Ruby beamed at her partner happily. She had worked extra hard on that, even sneaking off at night to make sure it was in perfect condition. "OK, Blake next!"

The Cat Faunus smiled gently and unwrapped her present, which turned out to be simple by comparison; a replacement blade, muzzle and magazine for Gambol Shroud.

"I could tell that Gambol needed some upgrades, but honestly these can just be a backup if anything happens to the originals." Ruby confessed, "I'd have included another Aura-reactive ribbon, but the one you have is the best on the market even now."

"It's much appreciated, Ruby." Blake assured her, the black-haired girl's amber eyes suspiciously bright. She hadn't received a present since she had been a child and this present, to her, proved that Ruby found no weaknesses with her fighting style. Weiss' gift was an emergency fall-back for if she was disarmed, as well as an extra defensive measure. The fact that Ruby merely gave her improved versions of what she already had was an immense complement for her. "I'll have these put in as soon as possible."

Yang, not waiting for Ruby's permission, ripped her gift open and found two pairs of odd-looking circles.

"Ah, these are an upgrade for Ember Celica." Ruby rushed over to explain, "They'll let you carry double the amount of ammo, and you can even switch them around like this-" she demonstrated, "-so you can carry both regular shells and the Burn Shells that you like to use at the same time without having to reload. It will mean redesigning them to account for the extra space, but it'll be easy to do that."

"Go sis!" Yang cheered, grabbing Ruby into one of her infamous 'Yang Bear Hugs' that left Ruby begging for air.

Once Ruby was released and surreptitiously checked to make sure her ribs were still in one piece, she turned to Ren and nodded. The quiet boy deftly opened his own package to find new blades for his StormFlower submachine guns. He hefted them, feeling that they were far denser and heavier than the ones he currently had attached to his weapons.

"I noticed that you have trouble dealing with heavily armoured enemies." Ruby explained, "Hopefully, these will help. They're made of a dense tungsten alloy that I've treated with a diamond and Thunder Dust coating. It will be quite some time before they grow dull, especially if you channel your Aura into them."

The studious boy studied the gifts for a moment before inclining his head in Ruby's direction. "Thank you Ruby. This will help tremendously."

Nora, as excitable as ever, ripped her gift's paper apart to find a pair of bracers that were the same pink colour as her original ones. They also bore her emblem.

"Those are made of an electro-conductive metal that should give your Semblance a bit of a boost." Ruby told her, "They also have small batteries that can store electricity and release it for when your Aura level is low." Nora's Semblance, Thunder's Might, used electricity to stimulate her muscles, granting her super strength enough to allow her to wield the war hammer/grenade launcher Magnhild with ease.

"Cool!" the orangette put her new bracers on at once, admiring them before hugging Ruby in thanks.

"Uh…me now?" Jaune asked. At Ruby's nod, he opened the parcel, which was the largest out of all of them, to reveal a new set of armour of the same design he currently wore, but with his emblem on the shoulders. There were differences in the design; the new armour was custom made for his body, Ruby informed him, and was designed to be let out as he grew. It was also made of a better metal and was lighter than his old set. He nodded his gratitude to the brunette as he couldn't speak with happiness.

"My turn, I guess." Pyrrha said with a smile at an excited Ruby. She delicately undid the paper and gasped audibly by what lay within. A pair of intricately wrought gauntlets, identical in shape to the pair she wore at that moment.

"Try them on." Ruby suggested.

Hesitantly, she did so. They felt perfect, even more so than her old pair, which she had worn with pride in the Mistrallian Tournament Circuit. The one she wore on her left arm had the design of a rippling helix on it, bisected by a long bar, while the right one had a sword design upon it.

"Hit the wrist portions together." Ruby instructed her.

Confused, Pyrrha did so and was taken aback by the bar on the left gauntlet rising up and a shield formed from multiple segments cycled out, locking into place once the circle was complete. It was a mere parrying shield, but now if she lost her shield, she had a backup ready and waiting.

"Press the dagger." Ruby told her and this time Pyrrha had an idea of what would happen as she pressed it. It sprang up out of the slot it was in and extended into a short sword. The Invincible Girl automatically grabbed it and felt its weight. Perfectly balanced, although a bit light. It would do as a backup weapon.

"The final trick…well. Use your Semblance and you'll find out." Ruby said with a smirk.

Closing her eyes, Pyrrha extended her Polarity Semblance over her new gauntlets. They reacted to her, welcoming her warmly, or so it felt. She'd have to ask Ruby how she did that later. When she felt the final surprise Ruby talked about, she chuckled and activated them.

Two strips, each about two inches long and half an inch wide, fell off the sides of each of her gauntlets and whizzed through the air, sometimes spinning like helicopters and sometimes like arrows. Once she was done with them, she restored them to their original places.

"Ruby, this is…far more than I deserve." The crimson-haired girl said weakly as she opened her eyes.

"I value my life pretty highly, Pyrrha." Ruby retorted, "Especially since I couldn't even defend myself. You saved me…you _all_ saved me, so please, accept my gifts. I want you to have them."

"If you're sure…" Pyrrha said uncertainly, stopping when Ruby nodded very firmly, "Then I accept with honour."

"How'd you get the measurements for these things, Ruby?" Jaune asked, gesturing at his new armour, Nora's bracers, Weiss' bracer and Pyrrha's armguards, "I don't think even you could measure them with sight alone."

"I actually did estimate them at first." Ruby admitted, "I wasn't off by more than a millimetre or so. Professor Ozpin let me have access to the details about your armour as a one-off bonus apology for…you know, the White Fang almost…well, I used that data. So there you have it."

"Have you constructed nothing for yourself?" Pyrrha asked, deftly changing the subject as Yang started to look sad at the reminder of what almost happened to her sister a week ago.

"Nope; my equipment's pretty much all good. I did do a couple of replacements on worn parts of Crescent Rose today though." Ruby replied with a shrug.

"Aside from the fact that you are all but helpless without Crescent Rose." Yang put in dryly.

"I've tried to learn how to fight barehanded from you; it didn't work." Ruby pouted. She had been thrown around for over two hours with no sign of improvement.

"Were you trying to learn Yang's style?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yup. Best hand-to-hand student at Signal." Yang nodded.

"That would be why she couldn't learn anything then." The Spartan said with a frown, "You have vastly different body types. Yang is built for strength and power while Ruby is built for speed. It must have been like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole."

The sisters looked at each other for a moment then shrugged in mutual agreement.

"Yeah, we figured that out after the first ten minutes," Ruby said with a sigh, "but Yang was getting extra credit for teaching a student hand-to-hand, so I stuck it out for the entire two-hours."

"Blake might be a better teacher for you. Or Ren." Pyrrha suggested, "Both of them favour fast styles that focus on rapid movement. With your Semblance, it would be a better fit for you."

Ruby blinked, then looked thoughtful.

"I'd be happy to teach you." Blake offered, and then amended her statement hastily when Weiss eyed her, "Once you've been cleared for combat class again."

"I would be happy to aid you in that." Ren said quietly.

"Awesome!" Ruby beamed. She loved Crescent Rose, but she knew, deep down, that she was weak without her weapon. The sniper-scythe was as much her confidence as it was her weapon and she relied on it mentally as well as physically. Holding Crescent Rose told her 'You are a Huntress-in-Training and not to be messed with.'

If she was taught how to fight without her weapon, she could hopefully become a better Huntress. Maybe even make her mother proud. She vaguely remembered the one time that a Beowolf had come to their house on the outskirts of the Patch settlement. Summer Rose had slapped the thing silly for 'daring to frighten her little rosebud and fiery sunshine' before breaking its neck with a single strike.

Granted, it had been a Midnight Beowolf, one of the weaker subspecies of the breed that didn't develop bone armour until they became Alphas, but still, it had been what had inspired Yang to use her fists as weapons. It was something that Ruby had wanted, but could never have because she was only good at using scythes.

Weiss clapped her hands twice to draw attention to her. "Right. Now that this is all done with, has everyone finished their homework?"

A groan made itself known from most of the occupants of the room.

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 **Next Chapter: Flame Alight**

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	3. Flame Alight

**Author's Note: So here we are with Chapter 3. Some of you will have noticed some difference between my story and Canon, especially Qrow's Semblance, the difference in the name of the team Qrow led and the family tree of the Schnee family. Some of this will be explained in future chapters, but in the case of the first two, I like Presence Assassination better than Misfortune and prefer Crystal to Stark.**

 **Read and review! My update schedule is on my profile; check there before asking me in reviews or PM's!**

"Weiss!" - Regular Speech

' _Dolt!_ ' - Thoughts

-{ _Sis!_ }- Radio/Scroll communications.

 **Chapter 3: Flame Alight**

 _The Next Day_

 _Just outside the Grounds of the White Castle, Kingdom of Atlas, Continent of Mantle_

A silver-cloaked figure stood atop the cliff and looked at the immense structure that was known as 'Die Weiße Burg' or the White Castle. It was the ancient family seat of the Schnee Family and had been for centuries. It had an immense curtain wall surrounding it and the lower sections were all heavily fortified against attack.

Above, however, the newer modern sections made it look very much like a castle out of a fairy tale. Tall towers with large windows and peaked roofs. All of which was a deception, the figure knew. The windows were made of double-glazed reinforced bulletproof glass that laughed in the face of even man-portable rockets. The thin towers were made with the most advanced construction techniques available that made them as immovable as the cliff she stood on and would do a good job even if one of the Atlesian Air Fleet's ships-of-the-line crashed headlong into them.

All of it, covered in snow, was a challenge. ' _Here I am. Come and get me. You'll fail._ '

"Schwarz…!" the woman under the cloak growled before she sighed and released her anger. It would do her no good to allow her, perfectly justified, rage at the head of the Schnee family to get the best of her right now.

Still, the fact that she had had to sneak into the White Castle and _save_ his miserable life was positively galling for her. She could see the section where she and the Black Fang had clashed from here; the Schnee family needed a new parlour to replace the one she had destroyed.

A _complete_ accident, of course.

Deciding that she had glared at the edifice to ego that was the Schnee family seat enough for one day, the figure known only as King's Rook turned away and started walking back to the little hideaway that she had had constructed here years ago for just such an instance. The Schnee were so arrogant that they would never think that someone would build something barely a stone's throw away from their precious castle. Bribe a few people in the command structure of the Atlesian Military and SDC Security to grease the wheels and look the other way and use her own private workforce and it was done in less than two months of work, although those two months had been spread over several months to keep the Schnee from becoming suspicious about blackouts.

She had even gone to the trouble of breaking the perimeter array on the other side of the White Castle in order to completely misdirect the SDC personnel that she hadn't bribed. That had been _fun_.

Entering a cave that was concealed behind a small group of naturally formed menhir, she reached out and twisted a particular rock, causing a hidden door to slide open vertically. Once she stepped in, the door smoothly slid shut seamlessly behind her.

To her lack of surprise, she had a guest in her little hidden home. A woman wearing red armour, with long black tresses of hair cascading down her back, sat at her kitchenette-slash-bar with a drink in one hand. Her hideaway was cosy, with all the comforts a Huntress could wish for; Jacuzzi, a bar, a full weapon workshop and enough cardboard targets of Schwarz Schnee to make anyone smile.

"Raven. I see you've made yourself at home, as usual." King's Rook said with a dry chuckle.

"Do I still have to call you 'King's Rook' or has Ozpin pulled his head out of his ass and recalled you?" the mother of Yang asked before sipping at her drink, a fine dry red wine from Vacuo.

"I'm still on duty." The silver cloaked woman replied, "What brings you to the land of cold disdain and arrogance?"

"…have you given any thought about what I told you a while back?" Raven enquired delicately.

"I have and my answer hasn't changed."

"Look, Ozpin _will_ fail! Beacon _will_ fall!" the former Huntress said with a scowl, "I've told my brother this, and I've told _you_ this dozens of times. Only the strong will survive the reaping to come."

"The strong…" King's Rook said musingly, "Your clan has always had strange definitions of what determines the meaning of 'strong', Raven. I personally would not take the word of a clan of…what was it Qrow called them…ah, yes…'thieves and murderers'…as to what it means to be strong."

"Take care, my friend." Raven said quietly, "I am the leader of that clan now and I will not suffer my clan's honour be impugned, even by you."

The hooded woman's lower face, the only part of her skin to be seen, quirked into a smile. "The truly strong have no need to defend their honour from naysayers, for their knowledge of their own strength gives proof enough against such things."

"True strength or not, Ozpin will not be able to weather the storm being sent at him." Raven glowered at her friend, "Not when SHE is behind it."

"Salem, you mean?" King's Rook asked with a frown, "Yes, she is problematic."

"' _Problematic_ '?" the black-haired woman laughed in disbelief, "She's trying to conquer Remnant in order to reshape things as she pleases!"

"So she _is_ after the Relics after all." King's Rook sighed, "So she is not only after the Maidens of the Seasons, but the Relics too? How on earth did she find out that in order to use the Relics, you need the power of the Maidens?"

"That's only a rumour. Not even Ozpin knows if that's true." Raven countered, "I think that the two are totally separate items for her; she wants the Maiden's power for her female generals and the Relics for her ultimate goal."

"That makes me no more secure." King's Rook said as she walked over to a map of Remnant that was on the wall, "I can understand taking down Beacon in Vale first; it's the most prestigious of the Four Academies and produces the best Huntsmen and Huntresses on the planet, but which would be next? Not Atlas, because, for all of Ironwood's idiocy, he will not be easy to defeat. That leaves Shade Academy in Vacuo and Haven Academy in Mistral."

"It'll be Haven." The ravenette said immediately, "Vacuo is a kingdom with little to no order, and is full of rogues and scoundrels. They guard what they see as theirs jealously and will be close to impossible to infiltrate as they will likely try with Beacon. No, they'll use an army. The White Fang, perhaps."

"I doubt it." The silver cloaked woman said distantly, "For all that Salem's cat's paws are chumming up to them right now, I feel that they'll be used and thrown away like a broken sword once Beacon falls. A suicide attack on Haven, perhaps? Decapitate the leadership and cause them to splinter apart? Something along those lines, anyway. As was proved during the Faunus Rights Revolution, an army of well-trained and well-lead Faunus can be a devastating opponent. Salem will want them eliminated once she's made best use of them before they inevitably betray her."

Raven stared at her friend for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't know what scares me more; the fact that Salem is very likely to do that now that you've made me think about it or the fact you can get _inside her head_ like this."

"As much as I hate to admit it, Salem is a very good strategist." The silver cloaked woman replied smoothly, "Then again, as am I. Any puzzle devised of mortal minds can be solved therein, Raven."

"Right." The red-eyed woman sighed, "Have you heard anything about that shit-stain Torchwick?"

"No. I believe you have frightened the hell out of him with your little visit, combined with the probable dressing down he received from whomsoever is the head of Salem's infiltration forces." King's Rook chuckled, "He has since moved bases though. A predictable action, but it will take a while for my agents to track him down again."

"Make sure you do." The other woman scowled, "Defeating someone in open battle is one thing, but a cowardly means such as poison is far beyond the pale. If he tries something like that again…!"

There was quiet between the two women for a few minutes before the silver-cloaked woman looked at her guest and sighed.

"Why did you leave Yang, Raven?" King's Rook asked softly, "Why did you choose to leave your husband and newborn daughter behind?"

"Where'd that come from all of a sudden?!" Raven looked startled.

"I've wanted to ask you this for years now." The cloaked woman replied, "Up until now, I haven't had much to do with Summer's children because they were only at Signal, but now they're at Beacon, right in the crosshairs of Salem, and I want some answers. When you were pregnant, you were ecstatic about having a child, and a daughter to boot, according to Qrow. Why would you leave her after the minimum time necessary to recover from birth?"

Raven opened her mouth before closing it again and thinking for a minute. Then she spoke.

"I was raised in the clan, as was Qrow. Unlike Qrow, who had a perfect assassination Semblance, but hated the idea of being an assassin or killing without a good reason, I _liked_ fighting. I _liked_ proving that I was superior, that I was strong. When we left the clan and started at Beacon, I was…happy…with Summer and Taiyang. But at the back of my mind, I was haunted by the strictures of the clan, haunted by the need to prove myself better than anyone else. Marrying Tai drove it away for a while, but…in my last trimester of pregnancy, an envoy of the clan came to me. I was to be the next head of the clan, by order of the previous one. He would have taken me then, with Yang, had I not killed him."

The ruby-red gaze of Raven Branwen hardened at that. "I was scared, my friend. I was afraid of what the clan might do to my daughter. I was falling into the darkness that they exude…I couldn't risk that Yang would be the same. And I was right. She loves to fight, loves her strength, but she hasn't had to prove it in a fight to the death yet. If she had been raised in the clan…no, I couldn't allow it. I sent a messenger to say that I would be along once I had finished up some business."

"Why not refuse?" King's Rook asked softly.

"Had I refused, the clan would have sent assassins after my head." Raven said flatly, "There is a saying in the clan; ' _Born_ to the clan means you _belong_ to the clan.' It means that we are not permitted to refuse a duty to the clan as long as we are alive. To refuse is to invite death upon our heads. Summer was a better mother than I could have ever hoped to become anyway. How full of life Yang and Ruby are now proves that."

"Raven…Yang is going to be in serious danger if…no, _when_ Salem and the White Fang attack Beacon. She'll be right on the frontlines." The silver-clad woman said quietly, "What will you do if someone tries to kill her?"

"The laws of my clan say I can save her life once." Raven replied, not-so-subtly dodging the question.

"And if someone kills her?"

The red eyes of the woman pulsed as that idea went through her mind. Her deep crimson aura sprang to the surface as she ground her teeth together before she got herself under control.

"If…if that happens, I will hunt the miserable bastard responsible down and make them regret ever being born." Raven said coldly, her voice as icy as a glacier, "The laws of the clan also allow vengeance to be given a priority. No one will get away with killing Yang if I have any say in the matter."

"Not alone." King's Rook said softly. Raven looked up at her shadowed eyes and nodded.

"Agreed. Sadly, I have to go now. There's a lot to do before the Shining Beacon becomes dim." The woman sighed and finished her drink, placing the glass in the dishwasher before heading to the exit.

"Raven…I think that Ozpin will likely recall me shortly before the Vytal Festival Tournament begins." King's Rook said slowly, "Is there anything you want me to say or give to Yang or Ruby when I see them?"

"Ah…when you keep your promise to Summer." Raven nodded, "No…Yang has to find me herself if she wants answers. That's the way it has to be."

With that, she tapped a panel next to the door and left, the opening closing itself quickly behind her.

King's Rook stood up and went towards a console embedded into the wall and tapped a few commands into it, making a screen flicker on and replay the last few minutes of conversation. She tapped a few more keys and her Scroll beeped as the file was transferred to it.

"No, Raven, it's the way _you_ want it to be." She said softly, "I'm afraid that I can't quite agree with you about it. Neither did Summer. She made me promise to help her daughters and part of that is getting you and Yang on the same page. Even if I have to twist your arm to do it."

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 _Two Days Later_

 _Sparring Arena, Beacon Academy_

Pyrrha Nikos practiced with her new sword and shield that Ruby had given her. Compared to her usual weapons, they were shorter-ranged and meant she had to adjust for that accordingly, but the sword was perfectly balanced, something that was very hard to do for a collapsible short sword like this one.

Better still, using the blades in a spar against Jaune actually gave _him_ the advantage (if she didn't use her Polarity Semblance) for a change, so she was forced to actually try harder against him. Jaune's new armour, being lighter and allowing more freedom of movement, also let him fight much more fluidly than before.

Off to the side, she spotted Ren going through kata with the new blades of his StormFlower guns attached. They were slightly heavier than his old ones, so he had to practice until he stopped noticing the difference. Nora, on the other hand, was cackling like a lunatic as her new bracers enhanced her already powerful strength with bursts of electricity, meaning that there were deep craters in the floor…and the walls…and even a few on the ceiling.

How she had gotten up there was beyond the Invincible Girl.

Team RWBY wasn't present, as Ruby has insisted on attaching her gifts to both Yang and Blake herself and the two wanted to watch Ruby mess with their weapons, and Weiss was away somewhere blasting things with her new bracer. The white-haired SDC Heiress _loved_ her new bracer and had been spotted working out new Dust combos between Myrtenaster and her gauntlet now she had two weapons.

The red-haired girl swiftly disarmed Jaune before placing her blade at his neck, winning yet again.

"Jeez. Even with a sword shorter than you're used to, you still run rings around me!" the blond boy grinned, which made her blush slightly.

"A warrior is only as good as the tools she uses." Pyrrha said demurely, depressing a hidden button on the sword so it collapsed back into its compact form before reattaching it to its mount on her right arm. She then clashed her wrists together, making the small shield fold away too. "And Ruby made this sword extremely with all of her skill. It's like it was forged just for my hand."

"It kinda was, Pyrrha." Jaune said dryly, making her blush again.

"Ren! Nora! Finish up!" she called, to distract herself from her embarrassment.

"Aw! Do we have to?" the orangette whined.

"Yes, we do." Ren said patiently as he holstered his guns, "Now put Magnhild in grenade launcher form and put her back in your locker."

"Okaaaaayyyy~"

As Nora skipped off (how she skipped with a Warhammer/grenade launcher strapped to her back that had to weigh as much as she did was explained only by her electric-powered super strength), Ren shook his head and followed her to make sure she didn't use her hammer as a door opener while she was at it.

 _The Workshops, Beacon Academy_

Blake had, intellectually, known that her team's leader was a genius with weapons, but she had assumed that she would need time with any unfamiliar weapons to know the ins and outs of them. Sure, Ruby knowing the intricate details of Ember Celica was one thing, as she had helped Yang design and build them, but her Gambol Shroud was a weapon that she had examined for less than an hour, and she didn't have any blueprints or schematics for the girl to have sneaked a peek at.

So how the hell had Ruby stripped, cleaned and reassembled her Variable-Ballistic Chain-Scythe, with its new blade and gun barrel, in less time than it took the girl to eat a cookie?!

"Well, you remember that you had to let the Beacon staff examine your weapon when you first came to Beacon?" Ruby asked. Receiving a nod, she continued, "Well the staff scanned the ones that belonged to people who didn't submit schematics with their entry paperwork and made some schematics then. They keep them on file in case your weapon breaks and you need to have a new one made. Professor Ozpin let me look at yours."

"…ok." Blake said blankly, "I wish they'd have had the decency to tell me they were doing that. I built Gambol Shroud from the ground up, after all."

"It was in the paperwork. Didn't you read it?"

"I was more concerned about getting into Beacon as opposed to being hunted down and murdered by the White Fang." The cat Faunus said with a deadpan expression on her face as she accepted her newly upgraded weapon from Ruby.

Both sisters froze at that and the former White Fang operative saw a flash of red in Yang's eyes.

"Blake…what do you mean by that?" the blond brawler asked in a deceptively calm voice that rang warning bells in the raven-haired Faunus' head.

Shit.

"Why do you think very few Faunus have left the White Fang since five years ago, when the leadership changed?" she asked softly, "It's a lifetime membership once you go above a certain rank; from your basic masked grunt to an operative. Each division of the White Fang has a different name and I was a member of the Shadow Fang, the stealth assault and theft division. Anyone who was at my level would have a sanction put on their head and be pursued…by the Black Fang."

"The _Black_ Fang?" Ruby said with a frown.

"No one knows who a member of the Black Fang division is or how many there are." Blake said with a heartfelt shiver, "Only that to be a Mark of the Black Fang is an instant death sentence. They handle assassination and code enforcement for the White Fang and they have _never_ failed in the last four years since their inception."

"And…you have been worrying about these people hunting you down…ever since Beacon started…and you never told us…WHY!?" Yang growled, her hair smouldering.

"At first because I didn't want people to know I was a Faunus and ex-White Fang member." Blake said, concentrating on examining Gambol Shroud's new blade, very well made so it was, "Then the docks incident happened…and then Ruby got poisoned…there really hasn't been a good time to bring it up, and the longer you go without telling someone a secret, the harder it is to say it."

Ruby's silver eyes softened as she looked at Blake. She could tell that under her bow, Blake's cat ears were flat against her head in distress. "It's fine, Blake. Just promise us no more secrets like this from now on, OK?"

The cat Faunus looked up and amber met silver and red. "I promise." She whispered.

"And if you even _suspect_ that someone from the Black Fang is in the area, you tell us." Yang added uncompromisingly, "We _need_ to know these things so we can help you. Don't push us away, Blake."

A lump grew in her throat as Blake silently nodded. She had expected many things over the years as a Huntress-in-Training, but having friends that cared for her as much as these sisters did was not one of them. Being friends with a Schnee was another unexpected happenstance, but now that the SDC Heiress was trying to move past her learned bias towards Faunus, she was becoming very much a friend. They would never be best friends, but comrades in arms? Friends? That was within reach.

"So when can you get back into combat training, Rubes?" Yang asked, unsubtly changing the subject to give her partner some time to recover her poise.

"Doctor Peach is gonna give me a final check-up tomorrow. If everything ends up looking OK, I'll be back in combat class next week!" the crimson-cloaked girl said with a grin. As much as she liked making weapons, she didn't want to get too rusty with her combat skills. She'd only been able to work on Crescent Rose because Yang had helped her heft the Sniper Rifle-Scythe from her locker to the workbench and back.

Having finished Blake's weapon, Ruby moved on to Ember Celica, stripping the twin gauntlets down lovingly until only the bare skeleton of Yang's weapons remained Removing the old ammo wheel, the silver-eyed girl then started adding parts to the mecha-shift portion of the gauntlets that would adjust to account for the extra room that the replacement wheel would take up.

"Ember Celica's more complicated than I thought it was." Blake remarked, finally under control again.

"Sis is a wiz at mecha-shift." Yang told her, "Ember Celica is actually very simple compared to Crescent Rose. I can maintain them normally, but if anything breaks, I rely on Rubles here to fix it properly. I _can_ do quick field repairs, but the last time I did that, Ruby chased me around hitting me with a book."

"Yaaaannnnggg! You put the primary gears in _backwards_!" the mechanic whined, "How could I not act in defence of my nieces?"

"It was an emergency!" the blond brawler protested.

"No excuse!"

Blake, watching the sisters squabbling, had to hold in a giggle.

"BLAKE!"

A familiar voice bellowing her name made the cat Faunus wince as Weiss Schnee stamped into the room looking livid. Blake wracked her brain to think what she could have done to piss the whitette off this time. She had hidden her Ninjas of Love books away, so it couldn't be that. She had a small fridge for her cream and tuna and it was empty right now, so it couldn't be that. In fact, she didn't think she had done anything that could have made Weiss so pissed at her.

"Weiss. What is it you think I've done now?" she asked carefully.

With an icy glare, Weiss pressed several buttons on the wall mounted screen, turning it on and tuning it in to the latest news bulletin.

"… _and to return to our top story,_ " the newscaster said with a plastered-on professional smile, " _In Atlas today, the infamous White Fang kidnapper and assassin, known only as the Black Fang, has been remanded in custody after a failed attempt to assassinate multi-millionaire industrial tycoon Schwarz Schnee four days ago. The battle, which took place inside the Schnee Family's seat of power and family residence, the White Castle, resulted in thousands of lien in property damage. No member of the SDC Security or Atlesian Special Forces has been identified as being in the building at the time, which leaves the question of who fought against the Black Fang and defeated her? The Black Fang was discovered suspended by her feet outside Atlas Academy, badly injured and with several data drives holding a wealth of information regarding the Black Fang's activities in Atlas. General Ironwood, Headmaster of Atlas Academy and General of the Atlesian Armed Forces, had this to say._ "

The screen changed to what was obviously Ironwood's office in Atlas Academy. Sat behind a white desk, James Ironwood was a man about the same age as most of RWBY's professors, with silver creeping into the sides of his neatly trimmed black hair. His white uniform was impeccably turned out and he had an air of professionalism about him that was very reassuring.

" _The Atlesian Military, as well as the Hunter Corps, has attempted to find so much as a glimmer of the Black Fang for years now, with no success._ " He said sternly, " _That failure has cost the lives of ten board members of the Schnee Dust Company, as well as the lives of several members of their families. While I do not know who is responsible for finally bringing this vicious criminal to justice, I can say that they have the heartfelt thanks of me and the Military, as well as the families of the bereaved, who will finally have a chance to lay old ghosts to rest._ "

The screen switched back to the newscaster. " _And in other news, PRMY (Primary) Industries has announced-_ "

Weiss snapped the television off and turned to look at Blake, whose eyes had shrunk to pinpricks and she was breathing fast.

"Did you know about this?!" the SDC Heiress hissed.

"Weissicle, calm it the hell down." Yang said forcibly, "Look, let's go over here and I'll tell you what Blake told us just a few minutes ago…"

Weiss squawked as she was dragged over to one corner of the room by Yang, leaving Ruby to try and calm Blake down.

"Blake, are you OK?" the leader of RWBY asked carefully, placing a hand on her teammate's shoulder gently.

Blake jerked and turned to look at her, eyes wide still. "R-Ruby…I…they failed. That's…never happened."

"It's good that they failed, Blake." Her leader said gently, "Now they're going to be focussed on getting to their operative before the trial instead of coming to Vale."

"Y-Yeah…that's a point." The cat Faunus nodded shakily, "It also explains why I got away from the White Fang, though. Between my stealth skills and the fact they must have been putting most of their manpower into that operation in Atlas, I lucked out."

Both girls looked up as Weiss came stomping back over to glare at Blake again. "What did I tell you about keeping secrets after that fiasco at the docks?!"

"Not to?" Blake said meekly.

"Exactly!" the Schnee Heiress huffed before looking Blake in the eyes, "I'm certain this oaf and dolt have told you this, but listen up! You are our teammate and our friend, and we do not abandon our friends! Is that understood?"

"Yes Weiss." The cat Faunus said quietly.

"Good. Now, have you finished with having your weapons upgraded?" the whitette asked, appeased again…for the moment.

"Two seconds." Ruby said as she started to clean the parts on Ember Celica and reassemble them in record time, taking the time to ensure that every piece was perfectly aligned with the rest. The last part added was the new ammo wheel before the armour plating was reattached.

"Done." The silver-eyed girl beamed as she collapsed the shotgun-gauntlets into their compact form, which was slightly larger than before, but not so large as to make people think they were anything but jewellery in that form.

Yang eagerly accepted them and slid them onto her wrists before transforming them back into their weapon form. The transformation was even smoother than before and the weight difference was negligible.

"So how do I change ammo types?" she asked her sister.

"Well, you know how you have to flick your wrists once to transform them, then flick them the other way to revert them?" Ruby asked. Receiving a nod, she continued, "In order to change from ammo type a to ammo type b, or vice versa, just flick them the same way you transform them."

The blond grinned and practiced the move a few times, hearing a tiny click after barely two seconds. She had to admit, this would let her change up her ammo far quicker than before. Her sister was one clever cookie.

"Thanks, Rubles!" Yang squealed and glomped Ruby, who almost immediately started choking on the bear hug.

"Uncle! Uncle!" she choked out, "Weiss! Blake! Help!"

"Unhand her already, you barbarian!" Weiss came to her partner's aid at once, tugging ineffectually at Yang's arms.

"Mine!" Yang stuck her tongue out childishly at Weiss, who glared back with her right eye twitching spasmodically. Blake felt possessiveness raise its head inside her for some reason, her inner cat not liking the way Yang said that. Shaking it off, she crossed her arms and tapped her foot, glaring at Yang as well.

"I think she's had enough, don't you think?" she remarked, nodding at a blue-faced Ruby.

"Damn. I thought I'd give her a Yangin' good time as thanks for my present, but, oh well." The blond sighed and released Ruby, who gulped in air, even as Blake and Weiss rolled their eyes at Yang's usual level of bad puns.

"Brute." The whitette grumbled, "Now, we three had better go and test out our new weapons and upgrades while Ruby watches to make sure everything is working properly."

"You just want to blow shit up." Yang accused her.

"Nonsense. I merely wish to make certain that Ruby's gift- " she gently stroked the bracer almost lovingly at this, "-is working to specifications. Besides, are you going to turn down the chance to shoot at things with Ember Celica 2.0?"

"If we're being technical, this upgrade makes them Ember Celica Version 4." Ruby interjected.

"Whatever."

"True enough." The older Xiao Long/Rose sister admitted, "Kitty Cat? You up to some weapon testing?"

Blake growled at the name that played on her heritage, but calmed down when she reminded herself that unlike Roman Torchwick, Yang was merely being teasing in a friendly way.

"Sure. I think I could use some stress relief after what I just found out." She said with a nod.

"Cool! Team exercise!" Ruby squealed, "Team RWBY, move out!"

Chattering, the four girls left the room once Ruby sped around it with her Semblance and cleaned it up; unaware that Ozpin had been watching them from his office via a hidden camera. He had wanted to find out if Blake had any idea about the Black Fang herself, but everything she said made it sound like the Black Fang was a squad, rather than a single person. Granted, some assassinations or kidnapping had occurred in two different places in the same night that no one could get to, even with a bullhead, but everything King's Rook had sent him made the Black Fang sound more elite than that.

"A hunter team, perhaps?" he mused aloud. Yes, that would account for it. A small, elite team that could work either as individuals or in concert with one another. He quite agreed with Miss Rose's opinion of what the Black Fang were likely to do if they were anything like a Beacon-taught team; their first priority would be to retrieve their comrade from captivity. If she was wrong, however…

Opening his scroll, he sent a flurry of messages to various people who either owed him a favour or worked for him off the books to keep an eye out for a group of three Faunus acting suspiciously. He did hate making things harder for Faunus in general, but after almost having two students killed in recent weeks, his resolve to protect his students was at an all-time high.

Turning his mind to the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament, he frowned as he knew that James ironwood would make a spectacle of the Atlesian Air Fleet and try to convince everyone and their mothers that it was better to have a solid military rather than rely on the Hunter Corps.

The grey-haired man sighed and poured himself a fresh cup of coffee. He could understand why James was so hell-bent on supplanting the Hunter Corps; they had rebuilt him after the incident that cost him his right arm and leg. Plus, having been raised in Atlas, the idea of the Hunter Corps and the military being one and the same was already in his mind.

Nevertheless, his good intentions aside, James was guilty of arrogance bordering on hubris. He always had the highest opinion of his own ideas, which is what led to him becoming crippled in the first place. His stated desire to use mecha to replace huntsmen was laughable at best and idealistic to the point of stupidity at worst, with his refusal to listen to anyone's council other than his own compounding the errors he made.

' _James…don't be foolish while you are in Vale._ ' Ozpin thought as he sipped his coffee, ' _I doubt you could survive the fallout, politically or socially if you do._ '

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 **Next Chapter: Banking the Flames**

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	4. Banking the Flames

**Read and review! My update schedule is on my profile; check there before asking me in reviews or PM's!**

"Weiss!" - Regular Speech

' _Dolt!_ ' - Thoughts

-{ _Sis!_ }- Radio/Scroll communications.

 **Beta'd by BigCC**

 **Chapter 4: Banking the Flames**

 _Two Days Later_

 _Team RWBY Dorm Room_

Yang Xiao Long grumbled unhappily as her mind slowly came back to the world of the living. Damnit, sometimes it sucked being a natural early bird, particularly when you just wanted to sleep in!

Unlocking one eye, she peered out and saw the sleeping face of her younger sister, who had once again snuck into bed with her. Well, it was only the second time she had done that since they had started at Beacon, but back at Signal, it had happened at least every other night.

' _She's_ _really starting to grow up isn't she…_ ' Yang couldn't keep the morose feeling from tinging that thought. She'd always adored her little sister and knew that, despite the knees and elbows of puberty, Ruby was still a very cute girl and, considering she was very much her mother's daughter, would probably soon grow into a stunning woman. Once the awkward growth spurt section of puberty was over she would have to fend suitors off with a stick.

Speaking of suitors, the way Blake and Weiss had been acting recently was very suspicious to Yang's experienced eyes. Weiss was still over the moon about her Dust Gauntlet and had been letting Ruby glomp her a lot more recently and her complaints were starting to sound hollow and almost automatic, with none of their former coldness in sight.

Blake, on the other hand was subtly allowing more skinship with her excitable leader. Nothing too obvious; a hand held just a fraction of a second too long _here_ , a touch on a shoulder _there_ , but Yang liked to think that, the hidden former allegiance to an extremist terrorist organisation aside, she knew Blake very well. She was quiet, private and didn't socialise well with strangers, a natural introvert in other words. Once she got to know you though, she warmed up a bit and allowed herself to be drawn into things.

Even when that was true though, she never liked skinship…unless she was the one who initiated it. Yang could count the times on her fingers that the Cat Faunus had initiated any skinship since the start of term and probably still have close to a handful left. Over half of those times had been in the past week or so with Ruby.

Dating teammates hadn't ended up well for their parents, but as girls couldn't get pregnant with each other, and thus removing one of the biggest issues, Yang was willing to let it go. The last thing she wanted was her precious Ruby Rose getting sullied by a _boy_.

Urgh, the thought was nauseating.

' _I_ _almost lost her…_ ' the blond brawler thought with a shudder. Ruby was someone utterly irreplaceable to Yang, one of only four people in the world who shared blood with her; Taiyang, Qrow, Raven and Ruby. She had practically raised the cape-wearing girl since Summer Rose had died and she had watched with love and care as the toddler had grown and blossomed into a beautiful girl. The thought of never seeing Ruby again, of never having her in her life…it terrified her more than she could adequately put into words.

The image of Ruby lying on that hospital bed, pale and hooked up to machines, as well as when that White Fang bastard tried to kill her, flashed through her mind. Yang instinctively tugged Ruby into a hug, to reassure herself that she was still there.

' _Never_ _again!_ ' she swore. ' _I_ _will NEVER let Ruby come that close to dying again!_ '

"…mmmm? Yang?" Ruby, waking up, peered at her through sleepy silver eyes.

"Hey sis." Yang whispered with a smile. "What's the occasion? You haven't snuck into my bed since the end of the first week here."

"I'm…nervous." The silver-eyed girl whispered back ashamedly. "I haven't practiced my combat skills in two weeks. I've got a lot of catching up to do. What if Goodwitch is disappointed with me?"

"Considering she and Peach 're the ones who suspended you from combat practice in the first place, I kinda doubt it." The blond Huntress-in-Training pointed out blandly. "Don't sweat it, sis. You'll do fine."

"You think so?" Worried eyes begged her for an answer.

"I know so." Yang reassured her with a fond kiss to the forehead, "Now let's get the day started, yeah?"

"On it." Ruby smiled.

 _Later_

 _Combat Training Arena, Beacon Academy_

"Ah, Miss Rose." Glinda Goodwitch looked over her spectacles at the young prodigy severely. "Doctor Peach has informed me that you are cleared for combat practice. Warm up and I will assign you a sparring partner."

"Yes ma'am!" Ruby cheered happily before vanishing in a cloud of rose petals, reappearing a minute or so later cradling her precious Crescent Rose in her arms. Moving to an open area of the arena, she quickly unfolded her Sniper Rifle-Scythe for the first time since she had been poisoned. Feeling her weapon's familiar weight in her hands, as well as the welcoming hum of Aura as she melded her own with Crescent Rose's, she couldn't help but grin.

For the first time in weeks she felt something close to complete.

"I missed you too, baby girl." she practically cooed to her weapon before she started running through the kata of her personalised version of Qrow Branwen's Scythe Style. His was called the Crow of Misfortune, relying on his weapon's sword-chain whip-scythe transformation to dominate the enemy in close and mid-ranged combat. With his Presence Assassination Semblance added into the mix, he could strike without the target being any the wiser, and even overwhelm them in the long run if they were skilled enough.

Ruby's style had been dubbed, against her own wishes, the Rose in Full Blossom, relying on the size difference between herself and Crescent Rose to confuse the enemy. Seeing how tiny she was compared to her weapon made people think she was weak or stupid and thus causing them to underestimate her. A mistake that people often lived to regret while Grimm seldom received that opportunity.

Thanks to both her Aura enhancing all her base physical attributes and hours of muscle training from trying to keep up with her powerhouse sister's own training regime and you'd find that Ruby Rose was surprisingly strong for such a petite girl. Added to that were the immense speed her Speed Demon Semblance and the manoeuvrability the kick from Crescent Rose's built-in Sniper Rifle provided. Combined, these three factors a far more dangerous foe than most would guess at first glance.

A point of fact; Ruby had long ago figured out several ways of weakening and even minimizing her beloved weapon's recoil, but had already figured out ways of using that kick to aid her in fighting. Primarily by utilizing the powerful recoil as a built-in booster that greatly augmented her own manoeuvrability even while in mid-air. She had actually considered building those upgrades in, but was trying to design way that would allow her to turn them off and on based on her current needs.

However, her greatest strength came from the seemingly superhuman control she had over her massive weapon. When together, she and Crescent Rose were one body and mind when Ruby wielded her, often to the point that one boy at Signal had asked if she was wielding Crescent Rose or if Crescent Rose was the one wielding her.

She had never given him a clear answer.

Other students watched as girl and scythe danced and a few blinked in shock at the strenuous pace she was putting herself through…including a certain Schnee Heiress.

"That dolt! She's only just been cleared!" Weiss growled.

"Chillax, Princess." Yang scoffed after she threw an absent glance toward her sister over her should. "Rubes is just kicking off the rust. That's actually a fairly sedate pace for her."

Blake hitched an eyebrow as their team leader seemed to blur in place as she swung her oversized weapon around as if it were a Halloween toy. "THIS is sedate?" she practically hissed.

"Yeah. Usually she'd be wearing weighted training clothes to go along with it." The Blond Brawler answered with a negligible shrug. "She must be listening to Doc Peach."

One of Weiss' eyes started twitching. "Yang, she's moving at normal combat speed! That ISN'T taking it easy by any definition of the word! She's only just recovered from that damned poison! She might collapse and cut her leg off or something!"

"She won't." Yang said confidently. "She's been exercising lightly for most of her time off to keep her muscles in shape, when she wasn't doing her schoolwork or making our presents. My baby sis is going to be just fine, oh Schnee One."

The twitching of Weiss' eyebrow sped up at that. "Brute."

"Tiny."

At that slight against her height, the SDC Heiress tried to draw Myrtenaster, but Blake stopped her. "Weiss, cool it. Goodwitch is about to announce Ruby's sparring partner."

With a final icy glare at Yang, Weiss turned her nose up at the blond and paid attention to her partner. Absently, her left hand started stroking the gauntlet that Ruby had made for her.

"First sparring match of the day." The pale blond teacher said as she adjusted her glasses. "Ruby Rose versus…Pyrrha Nikos."

The redheaded Mistrallian looked startled. "Professor, are you sure that's wise? Ruby's still only just recovered."

"I am certain, Miss Nikos, that you have the ability to fight in this sparring match without unduly harming Miss Rose." Goodwitch answered waspishly. "Clear the arena floor!"

The students moved to sit in the stands, leaving only Pyrrha and Ruby facing one another. Oddly enough, Ruby was positively beaming at this turn of events.

"She's _so_ wanted to fight Pyrrha since we got here." Yang rolled her eyes as she put her feet up.

"She wants to face the best in the year to judge her own skill." Blake nodded in understanding.

"I just hope Ruby doesn't go overboard." Weiss sighed as she crossed her arms primly.

"Judging by how she's practically vibrating in place, I'd say she's going to." Blake said with a small smile. She liked a lot of Ruby's antics; they were certainly better than Yang's puns!

Indeed, Ruby was vibrating in excitement as she waited for Goodwitch to give the signal to start. She wanted to know how she stacked up against the Huntress who had earned the name of 'The Invincible Girl' in the Mistrallian Tournament Circuit. She had done some research about the tournaments and they had been hard. She doubted she could have done as well as Pyrrha had done in them, not even close. She knew that now wasn't the best time for such a thing, as she was still a bit rusty from a two week furlough, but when opportunity knocks…

Pyrrha was having very mixed feelings about this situation as she readied herself for the bout. She had easily read the real reason Professor Goodwitch had chosen her to spar against Ruby; she could beat her without hurting her too badly. The thing was, she wasn't sure if that would be possible. Ruby was a prodigy with her weapon and scythes were exceptionally rare weapons, even among the eclectic arsenals Hunters wielded. Only Ruby and her uncle used them in combat on all of Remnant, meaning she had a distinct lack of experience when fighting them. Just about the only similar weapons were giant axes and halberds, which were also fairly uncommon choices for weapons, although she had faced them in her time.

She had also never sparred against Ruby before, ever. That had been an oversight, especially given how close teams JNPR and RWBY were to one another, both physically and spiritually. She made a note to have Jaune organise a set of sparring matches with Team RWBY after this.

More than any of the previous reasons, the one thing that made the Invincible Girl doubt her ability to live up to her teacher's expectation was that she was just as excited to fight Ruby as Ruby was to fight her; she was simply far better at hiding it. In the Mistrallian Tournament Circuit, she had faced many people with many different goals. Some had been like her, wishing to test the limits of their strength. Others had far more selfish reasons, such as glory and money. Never had she fought someone like Ruby Rose, who merely sought to be a hero.

' _Ruby's_ _speed is one of her greatest advantages._ ' She thought as she spun Miló and Akoúo in her hands. ' _She can move faster than the eye can track, and even my Polarity Semblance will only give me a brief flash of forewarning from tracking where Crescent Rose is. As a direct counter to that though, Ruby is slightly reckless and headstrong, so she won't do any fancy tactics at first, simply charging in ready to hit me. If I can anticipate that first charge, I could win the battle there and then._ '

On the other side of the arena, Ruby was having her own thoughts about her opponent. ' _Pyrrha_ _isn't like any other student in our year. Not even_ Yang _has managed to beat her, which is saying something. I can't be an idiot and charge in like I normally do. I have to be careful and cautious before I commit to an attack. My speed will help reduce Pyrrha's advantage with her Polarity Semblance, but it won't take it away, plus her reflexes are insane. I think she must be of Faunus descent to have such inhuman reflexes._ '

The tension between the two Huntresses was palpable as they locked eyes, silver meeting emerald. Goodwitch saw that a fight was going to break out whether she started the match or not, so she hurried up.

"At the ready…" she said. At her words, the Amazon switched Miló into Xiphos mode and Ruby spun her scythe around and held it behind her in a reaping stance.

"Start!"

Ruby vanished in an explosion of rose petals. They also started appearing from around Pyrrha, with flashes of Ruby's body seen intermittently.

"Not bad." Weiss raised an eyebrow. "She knows Pyrrha is too experienced a warrior to fall for her preferred tactic of a headlong charge, so she's waiting for the right moment to strike. Clearly Pyrrha didn't expect that."

The redheaded Amazon certainly was taken off-guard. She really shouldn't have been; unlike that bullying oaf Cardin Winchester, Ruby was a very smart person and recognised that her typical tactic of overpowering her enemy with brute force wouldn't work against her, so she was changing things up. Well, let's see how well she does with that….

Flipping Miló into rifle mode, Pyrrha fired several times in an attempt to strike Ruby, but the girl was even faster than she expected. Shifting her weapon back to Xiphos mode, she brought up the blade to block as Ruby finally committed to and attack, but with three retorts of her sniper-scythe, she bounced around Pyrrha's guard and slashed at her, although Pyrrha was able to dodge it.

' _What_ _rapid judgement. She read my block and moved around it faster than I could put it up!_ ' the Mistrallian thought in disbelief as she hurled her shield at Ruby, who spun her scythe and deflected it easily. Pyrrha used her Semblance to call Akoúo back and then leapt in to try and press Ruby in close combat.

' _Her_ _reaction speed is even more insane than I thought!_ ' Ruby thought as she used Crescent Rose's haft to block the strikes of her opponent. ' _Even_ _with my speed, it's hard to hit her. Time to try something else._ '

Pushing back against Pyrrha's latest blow just as she was about to pull it back threw the Amazon off balance for a second, just long enough for Ruby to pull back using her Semblance. Then the silver-eyed girl started running around Pyrrha in a circle until there was a solid red ring of petals around the Amazon.

"What on Remnant is that dolt doing now?" Weiss asked with a frown. Up until this point, she had been rather impressed by the way Ruby had fought against the strongest Huntress in their year. She had used her head and fought smartly. Until this.

"Another distraction move?" Blake essayed.

"Nah, Pyrrha won't fall for that again." Yang shook her head. "I think we're about to see a Rose Plan, like the way she took down that Nevermore with Weissicle."

"Grrrr…!" The sound of grinding teeth came from the SDC Heiress. She _hated_ that particular name.

"Ought to be interesting." The Cat Faunus mused.

Pyrrha looked around with a frown. The likelihood of striking Ruby was pretty good right now, but where she struck would be up in the air. She could hit Ruby's face, or legs or anywhere. Closing her eyes, she let her Polarity Semblance engulf the arena. Every scrap of metal sang to her, letting her know exactly where it was. Crescent Rose was dull, for some reason, but it took only a moment's thought for her to recall a conversation with the younger Huntress-in-Training that explained why.

Ruby had forged her weapon herself, infusing it with her own Aura every step of the way. Every inch of the blade, every nut and bolt, every part of the firing mechanism had been infused with Ruby very essence since it had been forged. Now that essence was actively trying to hide from her senses, not willing to betray its maker.

Still, it was metal and thus was still something she could detect with her Semblance. Plus, Ruby had metal buckles on her combat boots and on her belt, not to mention the zip for her combat skirt. The main problem was, Ruby was moving so fast that it felt like the metal was all around her. There was simply no way to pinpoint it, since the second she could concentrate to one point it would already be halfway around the room.

Deciding what to do in an instant, Pyrrha shifted Miló into javelin mode and flung it and Akoúo to either side of her. Grasping them with her Semblance, she spun them around and started sweeping the circle that Ruby was making around her in an effort to block and stall her long enough to attack.

Ruby reacted instantly, jamming the bladed point on the hilt of crescent Rose into the floor, swung around it and flew feet first into Pyrrha's abdomen.

"…gah!" the Invincible Girl choked out as she staggered back from the strike. Ruby was heavier than she looked, especially adding in the added force of the centrifuge!

Quick as a flash, Ruby somersaulted backwards, ripped Crescent Rose out of the ground as she landed and slammed the bladeless side of her sweetheart into the Amazon's body, sending her further back. Only Pyrrha's years of training prevented her from dropping her weapons.

' _How_ _long has it been, since someone pushed me this far?_ ' she wondered absently. ' _How_ _long since I've actually had to push my strength to the limit? Far too long._ '

Looking up, the Invincible Girl's blazing green eyes locked onto Ruby's silver eyes once more. Identical smiles graced their faces as Pyrrha leapt into battle once more.

"They're having fun." Weiss grumbled. There was something about Ruby having fun with Pyrrha that she just didn't like.

"It has been a long time since someone our age has given Pyrrha a challenge." Ren said quietly as he walked over to sit next to them. "She can and has been overwhelmed by older Hunters and Huntresses during training, but even Third Years have trouble facing her down. Now she's finally found someone who can match her. It's of little surprise that she's enjoying herself."

"I see." The Schnee Heiress looked back at the battling girls thoughtfully.

"Rubes is probably very happy too." Yang opined. "A lotta people looked down on her at Signal for her choice of weapon…at least until she kicked their butts with Crescent Rose. The fact that someone like Pyrrha is taking her so seriously must be a real compliment for her."

"Pyrrha's always respected Ruby's skills quite a bit." The quiet boy said. "I actually think the only ones in our year who don't respect her are Cardin's team."

Yang narrowed her eyes and turned her head to see said team lounging disrespectfully and jeering down at the combatants. Cardin himself was barely paying any attention, preferring to browse through something on his Scroll.

"Yet another reason to beat them senseless." The older Xiao Long-Rose sister growled. Blake narrowed her eyes as well. She loathed Cardin and his team for all of the casual racism and bigotry that they showed to everyone who didn't meet their definition of normal. The fact they disrespected Ruby was just another mark against them to her.

A yelp from Ruby had them return their attention to the arena, where Ruby was disarmed, lying on the floor and with Pyrrha's Xiphos an inch away from her throat.

"Cease. The match goes to Miss Nikos." Goodwitch said with a nod. "A very credible performance by both of you. Well done."

The redheaded Amazon sheathed Miló and slung Akoúo over her shoulder before reaching down a hand to Ruby. Ruefully, the caped Huntress grabbed it and allowed herself to be levered to her feet.

"You're _way_ too fast at reacting." She said with a laugh. "Do you have eyes on the back of your head or something?"

"My Semblance plus a lot of experience in tournaments means I have had a lot of practice at reacting to the unexpected." Pyrrha smiled. "You are just as good at planning on the fly. You almost had me a couple of times there."

As the two friends walked off of the arena, they were unaware of a man turning back into the passage leaving the room. Ozpin smiled before having a sip of his coffee. He had been alive, for a given term of alive, for many, many years. In all that time, only a few dozen of the thousands of warriors, soldiers, hunters and huntresses had ever impressed him as much as those two just had. Pyrrha Nikos, the Queen of the Mistrallian Tournament Circuit, and Ruby Rose, a prodigy with her scythe and weapon design and forging. Given the chance, those two would doubtlessly have their names engraved into history as truly great huntresses.

' _Salem…I will not permit you to be victorious._ ' He thought grimly. ' _I_ _will not permit you to cut off their futures. We shouldn't exist in these times. This world is for their generation to shape and change. Even if it costs me my soul, you will not touch the Artefacts, or the Maidens._ '

The main trouble was that of the four Maidens of the Seasons, the Fall Maiden was in a coma, the Spring Maiden had fled a decade ago and even he was uncertain where the Winter and Summer Maidens were at any given moment. In order to access each Artefact, a specific Maiden's power was required to unlock its vault.

Should the worst come to the worst and one of the Maiden's powers be stolen by the pawns of the Grimm Queen, there was little doubt that almost no Hunter or Huntress, even himself, could stand against a turned Maiden.

Except for a Warrior with Silver Eyes.

Sipping his coffee again, Ozpin headed back to his office. There were still the thousand-and-one irksome details of preparation for the Vytal Festival to complete before the start of the tournament. The joys of senior leadership.

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 **Next Chapter: Feeding the Flames**

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